The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-10-05

home, he had an atmosphere vocal with the
yells of what seemed thousand cats. The
nelghborhood must have been, he was con-
WINGED, a favorite resort for all the cats III
the city They rendezvoused in the grave
yard and fiocked on his back fence, and
perched on his shed roof, and caterwauled
madly all night long, He slept scarcely five
minutes at time. The next night the same
performance was repeated, and the next.
Instead of getting used to it, the Commo-
dore was getting more and more nervous
and slept less aud less. The wear and tear
began to tell on him.
Vanderbilt had his boots BACKED every
morning by lad who had stationed his box
not far away making an arrangement with
the boy in order to get his shine reasonably
cheap. One morning he sat down IN the
boys chair with such a weary air and with
so haggard look on his face that the boy
asked sympathetically:
"Wot's de matter, customer
The Commodore, for want of a BETTER
contidant, opened his heart to the boot
black and told him the narrowing tale OF
the cats.
"Wot1l yer give me, boss" said the boy,
''if I'll clean out all de cats for youE"
"Whatll give yous Why, TIL give you
dollar apiece for every cat you kill in my
"All right, customer" said the bootblack.
SIN be there tonight"
That night the Commodore slept as he had
not slept since he left Staten Island. He
awoke in the morning with the delightful
sense of having slept only about fifteen min
utes, and yet knowing that he had slept
soundly all night. When he went ont he
found his bootblack sitting on the front
step,
"Splendidly, young man, splendidly."
Hear any cats"
mot cat How much do owe you?"
Come round il the back yard an We'll
see, said the boy.
They went around to the back yard
There We're two rough-looking youngsters
sitting on the fence, and on the ground was
pile of dead cats that made the Commo-
dore turn pale.
For heavens sake, how many cats have
you got there9' he gasped.
"We'll tirow EN- over in anoder pile,
boss" said the bootblack, IAN you kin score
'em up"
The boy began to toss the cats over de
liberately, and the Commodore counted
until he had got up to fifty. Then he called
out:
Hold on Thatll do. See here; I'll give
you three fellows just IS apiece That's big
pay for nights work"
Cant do it, boss" said the bootblack,
I've made de arrangement wild desc gen.
tlemen here, an de understanding is dollar
apiece for de cats
well | won't give you but S. each all
around, :" said the Commodore.
He pulled out the money and shook it in
their faces, but the boys refused to take it.
Finally they withdrew in silence, leaving
the Commodore, aroused and ill-natured.
with h lie re rTbnxr fnrp,ad roSolxyo IN
''get even with him, and made their plans
accordingly.
That night the Commodore had not been
asleep very long before he was reused by
the most unearthly caterwauling that he
had ever heard in his life He woke with
the impression that there was a stack of
cats at the foot of his bed. Then he fan
cied they were at least Oh the window sill of
his room. But presently he became aware
that they were somewhere in the yard near
his window He could stand it no longer,
and seized loaded pistol that was in a
bureau drawer and blazed away, one, two
three shots, at what seemed to be the centre
of the disturbance i'll the yard. Then he
heard a cry and a groan of anguish from
some human being He dressed partially
and went ont into the yard, and found there
writhing in pain, the policeman on the beat
with bali from the Commodore's revolver
in which was a wriggIing, plunging mass oil
cats, all of them bowling now with a fury
redoubled by the episode of the shooting
The policeman was able to explain that be
| had seen what seemed to be q wild animal
of extraordinary proportions, which made q
noise Ikea hundred cats plunging around
on the Commore's lawn and had come over
to investigate; and no sooner had he discov-
cred that the object was a big gunny-bag
full Of Hat and ba6 rod 10 taIoo-a h.
animals, than the Commodore had opened
fire on him from the window, with disas.
trous effect.
The policeman sued Vanderbilt for dam.
ages and the Commodore mad to pay him a
81 600 to settle--a fact which became quite
generally known. As TO the cats, he knew
where they came from but the peculiar and
unfinished nature of the transaction with
the boys prevented him from mentioning it,
or from breaking with the bootblack, who
continued to shine his boots as of yore. The
dav after the Commodore had settled with
the policeman the boy looked up from his
box and remarked:
'Seep well last night boss?"
The Commodore only grunted in re-
spouse.
ANY cats nowadays
The commodore jumped up from the
char.
See here." he exclaimed; ''how many cats
did you kill that night?"
''Ninety-three, boss"
The Commodore pulled out his check book
and hastily drew check
Here's a check for $780," said he, land
now don't you ever say cats to me again in
your life, nor talk about this thing to any
body else, or I'll break every bone in your
body"
agreed, boss" said the boy as he pocket
ed the check.